As he is terrified of the looming landslide in November in which he and his MAGA-GOP mafia stand to lose both the House and the Senate, jackass president Trump is literally begging the Iranians to make a deal. Any deal, just so he can brag and lie to his MAGA voting morons about having achieved his fake objectives of the war. Many of them have already jumped the MAGA ship because he lied to them by promising "No Wars", yet has done nothing but warmongering under orders of his Zionist bosses. And instead of helping struggling Americans as he promised, his haphazard and corrupt policies have twisted the knife deeper in the wounds of inflation-tormented Americans. Now at least, his MAGA idiots know that he alone, not Obama or Biden, not the lunatic left, not the Democrats, is responsible for the degraded state of the United States, both at home and around the world. The little faith that people had in the US has evaporated. Going forward, the US will have a harder time convincing partners of its goodwill and trustworthiness because Trump stamped the "Unreliable" tattoo on the Stars and Stripes. As many warned the idiot, America first means America alone.
He's doing the same thing in Lebanon: He is pushing for a substance-lacking shallow photo op between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Zionist war criminal Netanyahu - while the latter and his terrorist settlers are stealing 20% of Lebanese territory - so Trump can brag about having "made peace" between Lebanon and Israel. But Aoun hasn't fallen for it, despite the enormous risks.
We often hear that Trump does politics as a businessman. If you've ever had to deal with the world of business, you'd know that the superficial wins over substance, that perception and appearance are the objective and not the reality or the truth, that dangling shiny objects with lies and deceptive marketing, ie. false advertisement and propaganda, are the only tools business uses to lure foolish people into accepting/buying stuff they don't want or need. And that is exactly what Trump is all about, with the added difference that, with him, blatant corruption and cheating are the norm.
Trump's impending "deal" with Iran looks worse than Obama's JCPOA out of which the moron (who doesn't understand the stakes) walked out because Netanyahu told him to do so. After all that's said and done, any deal Trump will make with the Iranians will include giving them back their $120 billion dollars, the so-called "Iranian frozen assets", held in international accounts: $2 billion in the US, while the rest is held up by the UN, by South Korea, Iraq, China, Japan and Luxembourg.
Trump walked out of the 2015 JCPOA agreement by blaming Obama for releasing some of that money to the Iranians.
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Trump Closes in on Deal That Could Drag Catastrophe Out for Years
Will Neal
Wed, May 6, 2026
Donald Trump is zeroing in on a deal with Iran that could potentially see his war with the repressive Middle Eastern conflict stretch on indefinitely.
Top administration officials told Axios Wednesday that the White House believes it is now closer to an agreement with the Islamic Republic than at any other time since Trump launched his campaign on Feb. 28.
A provisional deal apparently includes Iran “committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment.” The U.S. would lift sanctions against the regime and release billions of dollars worth of otherwise frozen assets in return.
Both sides would then commit to facilitating the transport of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital naval corridor in the region that Iran has effectively shuttered since the conflict began, sending global energy prices soaring.
But Axios writes that “many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached.” This leaves open “the possibility of renewed war,” or “an extended limbo in which the hot war has stopped but nothing is truly resolved.”
Trump's war has cost thousands of lives and billions in damage to regional infrastructure. / Reuters
Those concerns run deep, given officials also told Axios they believe “the Iranian leadership is divided” after successive U.S. and Israeli attacks eliminated many of the regime’s most senior figures.
It may therefore “be hard to forge consensus across the different factions” that remain, with many on the U.S. side of talks “skeptical that even an initial deal will be reached.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed those sentiments Tuesday, stating the situation remains “highly complex and technical,” and bizarrely quoting hip-hop outfit Cypress Hill to suggest many among the top Iranian leadership are “insane in the brain.”
The pressure on Trump to lock something down is mounting on several fronts. U.S. gas prices are edging toward $5 a gallon, and the president heads to Beijing next week, where Xi Jinping is expected to press him on reopening the strait.
Hawks in Trump’s own party, meanwhile, have urged him to scrap diplomacy and resume bombing. Senator Lindsey Graham, the loudest voice in that camp, called Monday for a “big, strong, painful and short” retaliation after Iran struck the United Arab Emirates, arguing Tehran had clearly violated the ceasefire.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
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Trump administration sows confusion as it tries to reopen Strait of Hormuz
BEN FINLEY, MATTHEW LEE, FARNOUSH AMIRI and AAMER MADHANI
Updated Wed, May 6, 2026
President Donald Trump, accompanied by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
President Donald Trump watches as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's approach to the Iran war over the past 24 hours has pinballed from declarations that a tenuous ceasefire was holding and military operations were over to new threats of bombing the Islamic Republic.
Tuesday started with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explaining how the U.S. military was protecting stranded ships so they could traverse the Strait of Hormuz. He insisted it was a defensive operation and the truce was still in place even though Iran had launched missiles and drones at U.S. forces, which sank Tehran’s small attack boats.
That afternoon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House that the military operation was “concluded” and that the U.S. achieved its objectives. But in almost the same breath, he said President Donald Trump was still seeking a “path of peace” that required Iran to agree to a deal to reopen the vital oil shipping corridor.
By Tuesday evening, Trump announced that the effort to protect ships was paused to see if an agreement could be reached. Then on Wednesday morning, he again warned that bombing would resume if Tehran didn't agree to U.S. terms.
Trump halts Project Freedom in Strait of Hormuz
The U.S. pauses its new operation to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Gulf allies push back. Officials say the move aims to support peace negotiations while Iran announces new measures for safe passage. Analysts note uncertainty about next steps.
The Trump administration’s shifting and often contradictory messaging throughout the Iran war has produced ever more confusion this week as the president and his aides presented a dizzying narrative over the U.S. strategy to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and wrap up the war that drastically changed over the course of mere hours.
Administration officials have been trying to walk a fine line between maintaining the ceasefire and reopening the strait, where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows. The economic fallout is growing as fuel prices rise, with Republicans facing increasing pressure to find solutions to higher costs ahead of the midterm congressional elections.
Aides are trying to sell Trump's strategies
The Trump administration has struggled with its messaging because the war wasn't well planned, said Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“Because it happened very quickly, it wasn’t sold to the American public in a way that I think was palatable,” said Dent, a former official in the State Department and Pentagon. “Now I think Trump is sort of doing everything he can to prevent a return of hostilities because he saw how unpopular the war was.”
Throughout the conflict, the president has shifted his priorities and his perspectives on victory. He's offered a murky definition of a ceasefire. And he's provided his own interpretation of a law that requires congressional approval for military operations after 60 days.
The confusion is fueled in part by Trump’s tendency to make off-the-cuff statements that essentially make policy, Dent said. Aides like Rubio and Hegseth must then explain Trump's statements.
The whirlwind 24 hours of decision-making by the Trump administration also reflects a realization that any alternative to an agreement “is going to range from unpalatable to outright ugly” at a moment of great political importance for the Republican president, said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group.
“This is not an administration that operates based on a policy process. It operates based on impulse. And the president seems now both tired of this war and reluctant to continue investing his political capital into it,” Vaez said.
The administration's narrative whipsaws on the Strait of Hormuz effort
The last couple of days have been emblematic of how the Trump administration's statements can seem out of sync and hard to follow.
The president said Sunday that U.S. forces would safely guide hundreds of stranded commercial vessels out of the strait, which Iran has effectively closed by firing at ships off its coast.
On Tuesday, Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said two American-flagged freighters transited the waterway to lead the effort, but Iran fired at U.S. ships and the military sank six Iranian small attack boats.
When asked about the fire from both sides, Hegseth said, “No, the ceasefire is not over.” Caine also said Iranian attacks did not reach the level of “restarting major combat operations.”
Rubio later insisted Trump's preference was diplomacy.
“Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” he said, referring to the code name for the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. “What the president would prefer is a deal.”
A deal seemed closer at hand when Trump said Tuesday night on social media that he was halting the operation in the strait to see what would happen with negotiations.
One key ally, Saudi Arabia, had been skeptical of what turned out to be the short-lived plan by Trump to guide the stranded vessels out of the strait, according to a person familiar with the diplomatic conversations. The person, who was familiar with the conversations but who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly, said the Saudis conveyed they didn’t see Trump’s plan as a feasible way to get the strait open and create confidence for vessel operators and insurers who are looking for a lasting solution to U.S.-Iranian standoff over the waterway.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not offer any immediate comment on the kingdom’s position on Trump’s effort, dubbed “Project Freedom.”
By Wednesday morning, Trump was threatening Iran once again.
“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it shot at and disabled an Iranian oil tanker as it tried to breach the blockade of Iran’s shipping.
Seeking help from other countries in the strait
Another confusing element is the administration's efforts to persuade allies to deploy warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has been lashing out at countries unwilling to do more, telling them to “go get your own oil” and saying it was not America’s job to secure the strait. But administration officials have begun actively soliciting help while toning down their language.
Rubio said the issue is not a lack of interest, but that many are unable to provide the necessary resources.
“A lot of countries would love to do something about it. But they don’t have a navy, right? Or they can’t get there in time,” he said.
After Trump's abrupt suspension of the initiative, two U.S. officials said the administration was still deciding whether, and how, to proceed with planning, following the State Department’s formal request for support from countries last week.
The officials, who spoke on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Trump’s announcement had not been expected and that they had not been offered detailed guidance on whether to withdraw the requests for support.
U.S. allies like Britain and France have rejected on-again, off-again suggestions from Trump that they become militarily involved, but they have led the formation of a separate international maritime coalition to secure the strait — but only once the threat to shipping ends. France’s aircraft carrier strike group is moving south of the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea in preparation for a potential French-British mission in the strait.
The issue only has been more complicated by Trump’s trip to Beijing next week.
“Going to China while the strait remains closed is humiliating for President Trump and puts China in a position of strength vis-a-vis the United States, because President Trump would have to, as he has done recently, ask for China’s help to resolve a problem that didn’t exist before he launched a war,” Vaez said.
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Amiri reported from New York.
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